Holdover clause
The BrokerFold Team — Product + Engineering
Last reviewed
A holdover clause is the term in a listing agreement that keeps commission payable for a defined period after the listing expires, if the property sells to someone who was introduced to it during the listing term. The logic is simple fairness: a brokerage that spent months marketing a home shouldn’t lose its fee because the buyer it produced signed the offer three days after the agreement lapsed.
What has to be true for it to bite
Two conditions stack. First, the eventual buyer must have been introduced to the property during the listing period — shown it, brought through an open house, or otherwise procured by the brokerage’s marketing. Second, the sale must occur inside the holdover window, a negotiated number of days written into the agreement. Miss either condition and no commission is owed. The clause is standard in an exclusive listing and in MLS listing agreements alike, and a mirror version rides most buyer representation agreements — the obligation can survive expiry on both sides of a deal.
The relisting offset
The scenario that generates the most confusion: a listing expires, the seller signs with a second brokerage, and the original buyer comes back through the new listing. Standard Ontario wording handles it with an offset — the first brokerage’s holdover commission is reduced by the amount payable to the new listing brokerage — so the seller is not paying two full fees. But offsets are drafting, not law. A seller switching brokerages should put both agreements side by side and have the overlap explained before signing, and the second brokerage should ask about prior holdover exposure as a matter of routine.
Why it matters for your marketing
Expired listings are one of the oldest prospecting lanes in real estate, and the holdover clause is the legal terrain under it. An agent courting a seller whose listing expired rather than terminated needs to know whether a holdover window is still running, which buyers it could capture, and how the offset works if the home relists — both to advise the seller honestly and to avoid a commission dispute with the prior brokerage. If your website runs seller-facing content, an honest explainer here builds more trust than another “sold in 7 days” banner: it shows sellers you’ll read their paperwork before you pitch them.
Frequently asked questions
Does the holdover clause apply if I relist with a new brokerage?
Usually the standard wording anticipates this: if the sale closes during the first brokerage's holdover period, its commission is typically reduced by whatever the seller owes the new listing brokerage. The seller shouldn't pay twice in full — but read both agreements, because the drafting decides.
How long is a typical holdover period?
It's a blank the parties fill in, not a fixed rule — practice ranges from a few weeks to several months. Sellers should negotiate it down where they can and note the date; brokerages defend longer windows on properties they've invested real marketing money in.
Do buyer representation agreements have holdover periods too?
Yes. A buyer who was shown a property during the agreement's term and then buys it within the holdover window can owe their brokerage the fee, even though the agreement had expired. The same introduced-during-the-term logic runs in both directions.
Keep reading
- Terminated vs expired listing Expired listings run out their agreement's clock; terminated listings end it early. What each status means and what usually happens next.
- Exclusive listing An exclusive listing is marketed by one brokerage off the MLS system. What that means for exposure, privacy, and CREA's three-day cooperation rule.
- Buyer representation agreement The contract that makes a buyer a client: what a BRA commits both sides to, what to read before signing, and how the BC equivalent differs.
- Cooperating commission Cooperating commission is what the listing brokerage offers the buyer's brokerage through MLS — how it works and why it's under a spotlight.